“Anger management”

In "Anger management” (Editorial Viewpoint, Parsiana, November 21, 2009) you have made your point, but it is far from the reality. If you believe and want us to believe that affairs of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) are a gentleman’s game, you are way off the mark. Today even cricket is no longer a gentleman’s game. If you expected the trustees to be statesmanlike, gentlemanly and magnanimous in their victory you are the joke of the year. It’s a dog eat dog world, and the vanquished have to be completely finished, annihilated completely, so that there is no next time. All opposition or dissent must be crushed once and for all. Who wants to brook opposition and its headaches?

As for reneging on the campaign promise to abolish leave and license, may I ask which politician or party has honored an election promise? Leave and license was in existence even in the 1950s and donors who gave funds to build buildings in their names or that of their kith or kin were asked to prepare trust deeds wherein it was clearly mentioned that "donors’ nominees will be given tenancy and others will be on leave and license.” It was open and shut tomfoolery, which the palav-daar bawas lapped up.

Regarding the ban on two priests, Ervads Khushroo Madon and Framroze Mirza, the fascists, fundamentalists and bigots are wielding power, so who cares whether you condone the act or not. Don’t try and differentiate between politics and trust politics. The principles are the same as are the rules of the game — intrigues, cloak and dagger.

In the article "BPP Anjuman meeting: Pride and prejudice” in the same issue, it is stated: "Some people believe whatever they hear. Others believe 50 percent of what they hear. The wise know what to believe of what they hear.” Though I have my doubts that you belong to the first two categories, it cannot be denied that this time round you were conned and taken for a merry ride in believing whatever was dished out by the fascists, fanatics, bigots and their masters.

If one had read the BPP Review (October 2009), it was very obvious what was in store at the so-called overview meeting. It was inter-alia mentioned: "Why is it then that Parsis who opt for non-traditional methods of disposal after death continue to insist upon traditional Zoroastrian prayers and last rites, and feel offended when our priests refuse to participate in such non-Zoroastrian practice?”

The truth of the matter is that Parsi priests, particularly Mirza and Madon and many others, have never refused to perform the last rites of Parsis opting for other modes of disposal. Therefore the question of Parsis getting offended is a figment of the imagination, concoction, fabrication, and a downright lie propounded and conjured up by the cabal of the trustees, WAPIZ (World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis) and the editor of the BPP Review. It is they who are offended and in their desperation issued a fatwa.

Baby Farzin Batliwala’s last rites were performed by Madon (not under any duress but of his on volition) and the Wadia brothers (Kerssie and Vispi), and not by Bomi Sachinwala who branded them renegades, nor by WAPIZ or the BPP trustees who shed crocodile tears, and of course not by the khota (false) dasturs. That nails the lie of the BPP Review that priests refuse to perform the last rites for bawas who opt for other modes of disposal. And if you please, the innocent girl who died of starvation was buried in a Hindu cemetery, a fact known to all.

The reality is that it is these self-styled leaders, scholars, and khota dasturs and their lackeys who are offended, it is they who want to lay the law down, and it is they who have issued the fatwa and are holding the community at large to ransom.

The hypocrisy goes further. In their desperation they want us to believe that the vulture population is afflicted. In the 1950s one could see from one’s house vultures on the palm trees in New Khareghat Colony. Today there is not a single vulture to be seen and diclofenac is used by all bawas, for the choice is between the bawa’s own life and that of a vulture and the bawas have chosen to save their own skin.

Bodies are rotting in the dakhmas and are taken out and buried in holes dug up months later. As a new reform, the dakhmas will now have a cover on top to cover up the black deeds of the khota dasturs, the fekoo (fibbing) scholars, and the diehards, including the seven trustees. Please note, you can fool all bawas some of the time, some bawas all the time, but you cannot fool all the bawas all the time. Even if you offer them pulav-daar, tareli macchi and retro dance.

Anyone who cannot face reality is unable to face the truth. Such a person is a moral coward, and in his desperation will resort to any and every means to extricate himself from the mess and quagmire of his own creation, and justify his deeds and action. Such a person is a devil’s disciple, has nothing to do with religion or God, but is a rank opportunist.

Parsis are not the only ones facing the problem of disposal of their dead. Christians face it too. But they have the courage to face reality. Though they have followed the practice of burial of their dead for ages, due to shortage of land and space constraints churches now approve of cremation.

So putting two and two together one can safely conclude that the overview was nothing but a propaganda exercise like the mouthorgan BPP Review. Why was it held at the Dadar Gymkhana and at no other venue? Because it had all the ingredients for a perfect plot, knowing fully well in advance that permission for the mike would be for one hour only. Dadar is the vote bank of at least two if not more of the magnificent seven, so there would be no shortage of chela-chamchas, hangers-on, lackeys, sycophants, yes-men, acolytes, fellow-travelers, et al. It is obvious that the whole thing was pre-meditated, pre-planned and programmed to the last detail. For all you know, a dress rehearsal may also have been carried out.

The public notice in the Jam-e-Jamshed Weekly dated October 25, 2009 trumpeted: "Family and friends are invited for this meeting, and thereafter to partake dinner.” That tells the true story. It was not for the entire bawa community, but only for family and friends, and that too with the dangling carrot of dinner without which it is doubtful if the 3,000 or so who attended would have done so. That out of about 30,000 or 40,000 bawas of Bombay, and may be 13,000 or so on the voters’ list, only 3,000 braved it to attend the grand circus tells its own tale.

I doubt if your editor qualifies as "family or friend,” or whether he gate-crashed, but I stayed away as I am neither a family member nor a fair-weather friend. But more pertinently I have experience of attending such stage-managed rallies, and I have seen war movies in which Hitler is shown ranting, bawling and castigating the Jews for all the evil that befell Germany, and the German crowd falling over one other to exhibit solidarity and support, just like the bawas at the meeting shouted "Shame! Shame!” and "All Andheri is with you.” Why not? If the poor are robbed of a roof over their heads by the BPP and it is handed on a platter to the filthy rich who pass off as poor, naturally they will extend their support.

The drama unfolded as per the script and once the one-hour deadline ended mayhem was let loose. Frenzied bawas took out their Parker, Sheaffer, Mont Blanc and Waterman pens to show they are more loyal than the king by signing on blank sheets of paper, without any clue as to what the contents of the letter would be or to whom it was addressed. Ask any of these pulav-daar and tareli macchi partakers to whom the letter was addressed, what its contents were, what was the outcome of the whole dhong-dhang (drama), what is the value of his signature, and you will get no response. At best, he will grin sheepishly, knowing full well that he made an ass of himself.

Such stage managed meetings are only for ranting, enemy bashing, character assassination, mud-slinging, blame game and pointing fingers, false and frivolous allegations and propaganda, blowing one’s own trumpet, and creating hype and hysteria. So, chalo (come), let’s partake of chatopani (alcoholic drinks) and pulav-daar and look forward to the next stage-managed rally with more pulav-daar and chatopani.

BEHRAM AGA

behram_r_aga@yahoo.co.in